Groundhog Girls
Punxsutawney Phil has some stiff competition: Chesney Miller, 6, and Maggie Klunder, 7, wait to see if groundhog Wiarton Willie sees his shadow during the Wiarton Willie Festival on Groundhog Day in Wiarton, Ontario. The albino groundhog did not see his shadow, meaning an early spring. Reuters

Punxsutawney Phil surprised witnesses Thursday morning when he saw his shadow -- heralding another six weeks of winter.

But the premiere Groundhog Day prognosticator has competition, and this year he's outnumbered.

Staten Island Chuck, biter of Mayor Bloomberg's finger and arguably the second most famous holiday groundhog, did not see his shadow -- which is not surprising. How can winter last six more weeks if it hasn't even started yet? (Knock on wood).

Woodstock Willie, the mascot in the Illinois town where much of Groundhog Day the movie was filmed, did not see a shadow either.

Neither did Dunkirk Dave of Dunkirk, NY; Shubenacadie Sam of Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia; General Beauergard Lee of Atlanta, Ga.; Wiarton Willie of Wiarton, Ontario.

So what makes Punxsutawney Phil the lone wolf of groundhogs? And who should we trust?

According to both ABC News and the Charlotte Observor, it's not Phil at all who makes the prediction, but a group of tuxedo-wearing handlers who call themselves the Inner Circle. A Google search yielded an entry on Groundhog.org - which is no longer active - that appeared to deny this claim.

Mike Johnston, vice president of the Inner Circle, told ABC News that Punxsutawney Phil was incapable of error.

I guarantee you someone's going to have six more weeks of winter, he said.

We suppose the inverse can be said of the other six groundhogs. Everbody wins!

Speaking of Groundhog Day, here's the trailer for the movie of the same name. Sure, we posted the same trailer in another story earlier today, but if there is every a day when we can get away with being redundant, it's Groundhog Day.

[via Charlotte Observer, ABC News]

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